Shambadal, who has been the Chief Conductor of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra since 1997 and was the Music Director of the Orchestra Philharmonic de Bogota in Colombia in 2009, will lead the city’s orchestra as it performs masterpieces by B. Smetana, F.Mendelssohn, and J.Brahms.

Besides Shambadal, who has toured Japan, Korea, Italy, Spain, Ireland and England, the concert will also feature Vietnamese violin soloist Bui Cong Duy.

Tickets for the event, ranging from US$25-60, are available at the Hanoi Opera House, 1 Trang Tien, Hoan Kiem Dist. and at www.ticketvn.com.

ASEAN traditional music festival promotes understanding 

The 2011 ASEAN traditional music festival will take place in the central coastal province of Phu Yen from June 23 to 26, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Joining in the international event will be several art troupes from ASEAN country members and China and Japan. The music fest is the highlight of the National Tourism Year 2011 in the province.

It aims to promote cultural exchanges and understanding of arts among ASEAN countries, as well as to promote tourism in Phu Yen Province.

Vietnam to host Int’l Documentary Film Festival 2011 

Vietnam will host the third International Documentary Film Festival from June 6 to 11, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The event will feature filmmakers from Europe including Italy, France, Germany, Denmark and Vietnam. The independent films are on different themes including the arts, social issues, urbanization, and immigration.

An Italian film, directed by Isabel Achaval Genuardi, is called Storie di Pioggia (Rain Stories) and shows the experiences of people with very different social and cultural backgrounds. However, they have much in common and Genuardi focuses on their similarities in relocating from their home countries to live a new life abroad.

Other screenings include “Stolen Art” from Belgium, Herbstgold (Autumn Gold) from Germany, and “Cleveland versus Wall Street,” a film about a mock tribunal in Ohio by Swiss director Jean-Stéphane Bron. Six documentaries originating from Vietnam will be featured.

The event will take place nightly the week of June 6. Vietnam National Documentary and Scientific Studio in Hanoi will screen the shows at 7 p.m. and is located at 465 Hoang Hoa Tham Street. (Cocktails will be served at 6:30 p.m.). The screenings in Ho Chi Minh City will occur the same week at the Institute for Cultural Exchange with France (IDECAF) at 31 Thai Van Lung Street in District 1. (Cinet)

Family movie days at BHD

Family movie days will take place from Friday until June 2 at BHD Star Cinema in District 10 to celebrate International Children’s Day on June 1.

Every day the cinema will screen three Hollywood cartoon blockbusters Kungfu Panda1, Madagascar 2, and Ice Age 3. Tickets are priced at VND40,000. On Children’s Day, the first 400 moviegoers who buy tickets for Kungfu Panda 2 in 3D will receive an invitation card to join the kids’ party at 5 p.m. in the cinema complex at Floor 4, Maximark Supermarket, 3C, 3 Thang 2 Street.

The party includes a circus performance, meeting famous artists, gift giving and photo taking. For bookings in advance call (08) 62645820 - (08) 62645821 - (08) 62645822.

Hue to devote riverside road to walkers

Authorities in Hue plan to make Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street along the Huong River a walking-only road with food and tourism services available for pedestrians at night.

The street is famous for its romantic views of the river and Trang Tien Bridge, fresh air, and quiet.

The city people’s committee earlier made a similar effort during the Hue Festival 2004 but had to scrap the scheme since it did not attract many tourists in the absence of services or food.

Wood inlay artist to take his works to France

Vietnamese artist Do Duc will take 10 wood inlay works with him during a visit to the Fenêtre Sur Rue exposition in Bordeaux (France) to talk about carving techniques.

Duc learnt wood carving from an illustrator working for the Viet Nam Doc Lap (Independent Vietnam) newspaper in North Vietnam in the 60s and 70s. Duc had been a reporter then but quickly mastered wood carving as well as painting on Do paper.

Some 30 of his works are on permanent display at the National Ethnographic Museum in Thai Nguyen Province and Hanoi’s Vietnam Fine Arts Museum.

Duc has been invited to teach Vietnamese arts at several workshops. In 2004 he went to France to instruct French artists in making Do paper and again in 2009 to introduce rudimentary painting techniques.

During this trip, Duc and fellow artist Le Huy Tiep will attend a seminar and make presentations to French artists.

Hanoi exhibition to feature Japanese manga

An exhibition showcasing Japanese manga comics will be held at the Vietnam Museum of Fine Arts in Hanoi from May 18 to June 16.

“New space for manga – Japanese contemporary comic art” will feature nine comics published since 2000 -- “Number Five” by Matsumoto Taiyo, “The World God Only Knows” by Wakaki Tamiki, “Children of the Sea” by Igarashi Daisuke, “Sugar Sugar Rune” by Anno Moyoco, “BECK” by Harold Sakuishi, “Nodame Cantabile” by Ninomiya Tomoko, “Solanin” by Asano Inio, “Sennen Gaho (One Thousand Years Diary)” by Kyo Machiko, and “Five Minutes from the Station” by Kuramochi Fusako.

A reading room will be opened for visitors to the exhibition.

The museum is situated at 66 Nguyen Thai Hoc.

Two presentations, “Japanese manga: the entertainment industry penetrating space and time” by the exhibition curator Takahashi Mizuki and “When manga turns to art” by Japanese art critic Kyoshi Kusumi, will be held on May 19 and June 4 at the Fine Arts University of Vietnam, 42 Yet Kieu.

Manga comics and cartoons are extremely popular in Japan among both children and adults and are translated into many languages around the world.

US photographer raises money for Agent Orange victim

A photo exhibition showcasing the painful life of a Vietnamese child suffering from disabilities caused by Agent Orange took place at 28 Tong Duy Tan in Hanoi on Sunday.

Titled “Nu’s pain,” the exhibition featured 20 black and white photos about the life of Nu—an autistic child with hearing and visual impairments—taken over four years by American photographer Justin Mott.

Agent Orange is a defoliant that was sprayed extensively in Vietnam and Cambodia by U.S. forces during the war with America. The dioxins, which experts say are still in the soil of heavily sprayed areas, are suspected of effecting millions of Vietnamese and causing hundreds of thousands of birth defects.

Money from auctioning photos and ticket sales will be used for Nu’s physiotherapy treatment and medical care at the dioxin victims support center, Friendship Village.

Nu cannot hear, speak or see, and is autistic. Agent Orange is thought to have caused the mental illness of Nu's father, and she now lives with her grandparents.

Mott met Nu in 2007. He was born in Rhode Island, and now lives in Hanoi and is working throughout Southeast Asia. In 2008, his work on Agent Orange orphans won the annual photo contest from the America-based PDN magazine and he was awarded the Morty Forscher Fellowship for humanistic photography from the Parson’s school of Design in New York City.

Source: VNA/SGGP/TN